Hi Graham,

I don't like to modify my rigs if I can avoid same.  I went out and bought a cheap amplified speaker pair for a computer.  I believe it cost me less than $10.  That, and an adapter (from Radio Shack) to allow the mono feed from the HW-8 to both channels of the stereo speakers and I was in business.  Fills the room and make copy a lot easier.  The power output from the HW-8, even with the proper transformer, is not that high.

Hope this helps.

72, JP, K8AG

Its a problem with PSK-31.  We connect our computers with little understanding of audio signal power or impedances, and expect it to work.  Is it a line level signal, or a speaker level signal?  We are used to plugging things into our computers and they simply work.  It sdoesn't work that way with PSK-31.

Perhaps you should mention to them that they might make more contacts if their signal was cleaner.  A sloppy wide signal can be more difficult to copy.

We'll just have to work around him for now.

73, JP, K8AG

"Eeegh.. hope you find some responses. I'm not a fan of radio without radios myself, at least not the way QSOnet advertises "no QRM, etc" "

I could not agree more.  For me its not making the contact, but how its made.  I can pick up a cell phone and in a few minutes talk to someone in Austrailia (or wherever) while walking down the street.  Non-hams frequently fail to see the lure of ham radio because to them, its all about making the contact.

I personally like minimum involvement of outside people or equipment between me and the other op.  It says something when you can bounce a signal, the same magnitude as that which comes froma Christmas tree light, off the upper layers of the planet's atmosphere, and have it detected half a world away.

Its not that we make contacts, its hgow we make them.

My 2 cents.

73, JP, K8AG

Hi Jim,

First I would think that having an antenna that is both vertically and horizontally polarized might detect both vertically and horizontally polarized noise, desensing your receiver to some degree.

If you are determined not to have 2 separate antennas, then we can move on.

Generally, the larger the conductor diameter, the broader the bandwith of the antenna will be.  For 6 meters, you might get away with using some sort of copper tubing or aluminum for the conductor.  Even metal sheet or hardware cloth could be used to make the antenna broader.

A normal inverted L is essentially a quarter wave antenna bent over on the way up.  Assuming you split it in the center, radiation from the vertical part will probably be greater than from the horizontal part.  Also no radials is probably a bad idea.  You might not even be able to get a match.

Well, you asked for comments.  Good luck.

73, JP, K8AG

"I spring load mine (door springs work well), but I don't have the ends attached to a tree. If I did, I'd use the aforementioned.

Alan, KØBG "

I use bungee cords.  Don't know if they are better or worse.  Just another slant.

73, JP, K8AG

Wire type is not that important.  If its in the attic, zip cord or house wire should be fine.

As for a balun, you might want a current choke (sometimes incorrectly called a balun).  It might help if you find a lot of RF on your rig.  You can wind a few turns of coax on a 2-liter bottle.

The slinky coils are probably not hurting you, but they might make 20M resonance a bit difficult.

My 2 cents.

73, JP, K8AG

For static to "build up" there needs to be some electrical isolation between components.  If all of your components are gounded together, there should be no significant electrical charge buildup.

Static may be a problem connecting a radio to a suspended antenna element that is insulated from ground.  Weather conditions can build up a charge on antenna components and it is possible (sep. in dry weather) to discharge that charge through your radio when you connect the antenna.  Some folks ground the antenna when it is not in use.  I just ground my center and edge of my PL259 before I insert the connector.  I just always unplug when not in use.

Like was said before, nothing will prevent a direct (or even a very very close) lightning strike from damaging equipment.

73, JP, K8AG

Hi Bruce,

Sometimes its not station power, but bad audio signal matching that causes signals to splatter.  And it doesn't seem to matter how much you spend on an interface.  Basically you can't drive a mic input with a speaker output without some fairly significant signal and impedance alterations.  Many ops expect to simply plug the box in and go.  PSK isn't like that.  We need to test our signal and ask for real reports on how it is.  Don't think you are encouraging an op by telling him his signal is FB when it is lousy.  I had a signal mismatch problem early on and some ops were straight with me and said my signal was wide and bad.  Others said it was fine.

Of course turning the audio gain down to keep things in the linear region is always a good idea.


My 2 cents.

73, JP, K8AG

That's the way glass mounted mobile antennas work for VHF and UHF.  Simply, they use the capacitance set up in the glass to transfer the energy.

At HF, however, the capacitance would need to be larger and with the spacing between glass (or worse between sheetrock), it might be difficult.

73, JP, K8AG

I ordered a key from him and it did not come.  I emailed him and he didn't miss a beat sending me a replacement.

That is true customer service.

73, JP, K8AG

I would like to see a manual.  I don't have the dollars yet, but I would like to drool over a pdf file until I can get it together.

73, JP, K8AG

Frankly, some of us don't have the time or real estate for separate antennas for each band.

Its nice that you seem to.

73, JP, K8AG

Elbow room!  Don't forget elbow room.  A lot of shacks are built on standard office desk equipment and such.  Much of it has plenty of elbow room until you put a piece of equipment in front of you (like a transceiver).  It may not seem like much of an issue until you try finding room for the computer mouse, mic, straight key, paddles, note pad etc.

My 2 cents.

73, JP, K8AG

Decades ago I worked at Robotron Electronics.  I built some 250A and 500A DC power supplies used for electroplating.  These were adjustable (something like 10 - 15 volts) and water cooled on large copper heatsinks.  Really cool.

Anyway, we basically paralleled 2n3055s and used 0.13 ohm on each transistor emitter.  They didn't have the LM723 back then so the regulator was a bit unstable until they tweaked it.

73, JP, K8AG

I say build a Faraday shield around the whole station, antennas, power and all.  

73, JP, K8AG